Easter Traditions

***Pictures to be posted later***

The American West Heritage Center

I haven't taken the kids to Baby Animal Days for a few years.  Brian convinced me to take the kids so he could get some sleep (working nights and spring break do not mix very well)  So I decided to try going by myself with 3 kids.  It was super busy, but the kids loved seeing all the animals.  Autumn loves the horses, we held the bunnies and even rode the train.  Autumn wanted to do the mutten bustin' but we didn't get signed up in time.

I can say it was an interesting experience taking all the kids by my self.  I am so grateful that I ran into some old ward members Chelsea Adamson and Precilla Newbold.  (they only live right behind me, but because they go to church at a different time, I don't see them very often)  They stood in line with me while we waited for the pony rides.  I handed Hunter a piece of candy and turned and was talking to the girls for a minute.  When I turned around realized Hunter was gone.  I couldn't find him anywhere.  Chelsea stayed with the kids and Precilla helped me look for him.  After what seemed like an eternity later, Precilla cam waling back with him crying.  Someone had found him crying and was walking to the lost child station.  I guess I am not the only person to loose my child there.  I asked him later where he had gone.  We were there a week earlier for a wedding reception so he thought I was at the livery stable.

I took the kids to the Nibley Easter Egg Hunt alone this year.  It's a little harder when you have a child in almost every age group.  We designated an meeting spot for after and sent the kids to their location.  I stayed with Hunter.  He found a gold egg and was able to do the bunny-sack race after.  He won first place in his age-group and won a giant inflatable bunny that is taller then I am.  I would have been happy with the second place stuffed bunny prize... oh well.  He had fun.  He actually hopped to the finish line and then turned around and hopped back.

On Easter Day we had out big egg-dying party at Grandma Achatz's house with Natalie and her family.  Then we took them to Old Main Hill to roll them down.  This is a tradition I remember doing when I was a kids.  The kids have a lot of fun chasing their eggs down the hill.  It is very a popular Easter tradition.  There were eggs ALL OVER the hill.  The seagulls love it.

Hunter turns 4!!!

My little man is now 4 years old.  Time flies so fast.  He is such a fun little boy with a huge personality.  The first thing he asked me when I got him up was "Am I 4?"

 Hunter loves to sing.  It doesn't matter if it is at home or in the car.  I love listening to him sing.  He runs around singing "skippity-do-dah, skippity A, my oh my what a wonderful day"

He is also getting a lot better at writing his own name.  He only needs to master the E and the R.  For a while his name was "HUT" because that is what he could write.  He amazes me with his number recognition.  He is now learning his double digit numbers.  For a while when he would see 11, 12 and 13 he would say one-teen, two-teen and three-teen because all the other numbers said the number with the word teen after it.  I love how little minds work :)

We celebrated Hunter's birthday April 1st, the Sunday after his birthday because Brian had to work nights on the 30th.  

Hunter is a little obsessed with Mario right now.  So I attempted to make Marioland

Hunter loved so that is all that mattered

I asked him how old he was.  What a cutie :)

Daddy takes the girls skiing

With Brian working 12 hour shifts he has 2 to 3 days off during the week.  We haven't been able to take Autumn up to Beaver to go skiing (though my dad did take her night skiing one night) Brian had a couple of tickets to use so he decided to try to take BOTH girls up alone.  Autumn had only skied twice and Brooklyn had never gone before.  To tell you the truth I was kind of nervous that he would not have the patience to have 2 new skiers on the mountain.  

We got the girls stuff ready to go on a Monday that Brian had off  but the weather was going to be really bad.  So instead they were going to go on a Tuesday.  The weather was the first BEAUTIFUL and sunny day we have had for a while.  It was a great day to go skiing!

The girls all ready to go skiing

They did get stuck once or twice :)

But after a while both girls were skiing like pros without any bungees to keep their skis together

One of their favorite places to go was in the tunnel

They did try some of the other trails

But really liked playing around the tunnel

They had a lot of fun :)

The kids got home that afternoon and I realized I had forgotten one important thing ... SUNBLOCK.  Everyone had gotten a little burned except for Autumn who ended getting badly burned.  Her eyes swelled shut and then her whole face swelled.  It was the hardest thing to see my little girl is such terrible shape.  She ended up missing a whole week of school.  We got her into the doctor and he gave us a steroid creme that we started Friday night.  I cannot believe how quickly her face improved. After the first crusted layer of skin came off (in only 3 days)  Her face never peeled and didn't even look like she had gotten a second degree burn. 

We are all very grateful that she healed so quickly.  She even said she wants to go skiing again (but next time with sunblock and eye protection)

BABY #4

We went in for our 20 week ultrasound.  The girls decided to go to a friends last minute so Hunter was the only one with us.  It was really cool because We got to see it in live 4D.  They also recorded it on a DVD.  I have a VHS video of both Autumn and Brooklyn's ultrasound.  I only got a CD of pictures when we had Hunter's 3D ultrasound.  So I was pretty excited to see how amazing technology changes over just a few years. 

We decided to go to the ultrasound and not find out what the baby was.  I wanted to have the last baby be a surprise.

side view of baby

I was excited to actually get a good face shot.

 When I had Hunter's #D ultrasound I was sad that we could never see his face.  He would snuggle into the placenta and we could only get and side view of him.

Almost smiling

The foot

Baby put it's hands up

 Well as much as you might plan on something, SOMETIMES the baby has other plans.  While the ultrasound tech was measuring the baby's leg.... The baby decided to reveal itself... So we decided to get the conformation pics...

That's not a third leg :)

Definitely a little BOY!!

Christmas 2011

Catching up on past events (life must be a little crazy right now)

Our insurance company had a big party at the Fun Park.  The kids had a lot of fun.  We all played laser tag...even little Hunter.  He had a blast running around in the dark trying to shoot at people.  Brian took the girls rollerblading while I watched Hunter pay on the soft play.  Then we all went to see Santa to let him know what everyone wanted for Christmas.

Christmas morning the kids woke up and a had a very nice day.  

Merry Christmas

CARS!!

Autumn and her new Sunday dress 

I am not sure why Brookie is into the Monster High dolls

Autumn was excited to get her new 3DS

STAR WARS!! (I have to laugh at Hunter, he looks almost drugged)

Brookie's 7th Birthday

I can't believe how fast time goes by. My little girl is now 7 years old. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that my kids were all so little. We had a family party on her birthday. It was a little hard trying to get everything arranged because Brian worked late that day and it was the last day of school before Christmas break. It all worked out okay with a little help from my sister, Kristin, who kindly agreed to pick up the cake and some pizza for dinner.
Hunter is a little nut. I really don't know what he was doing but somehow got in the way of the camera and decided to be silly :)

We opened up presents and Brooklyn had a blast.

This was Brooklyn's surprised look ans Autumn brought in her last gift....

A brand new bike!

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!!

Fun Times

We went to the pumpkin walk for the first time. We had a lot of fun. It was nice to get out of the house and do something fun as a family. The different exhibits were really cute. People are really creative.
There were a ton of these wooden picture boards to poke you head through. The kids had a lot of fun running around getting their pictures taken. I will have to put more up after I figure out how to turn them without having to post them of facebook first. We even had a little fun with one. I have an awesome photographer (Autumn).